It’s official: Tom Corson will begin his tenure as Co-Chairman/COO at Warner Bros. Records on 1/2, reporting to WMG CEO Recorded Music Max Lousada. As we previously reported, Corson will share Chairman duties with WBR Co-Chairman/CEO Aaron Bay-Schuck.

Corson joins the Bunny after an outstanding seven-year run as President/COO of RCA; his shared rule of that label with CEO Peter Edge set a dynamic template—Corson’s exceptional marketing, deal-making and logistical acumen paired with his fellow chief’s A&R chops—that Lousada clearly hopes to emulate at WBR.

The Seattle-born Corson began as an intern at I.R.S. while getting his UCLA business/econ degree and first hit biz radar as the executive assistant of Gil Friesen toward the end of A&M’s glory days. He displayed his versatility as VP of International at Capitol and SVP Marketing at Columbia before entering Clive Davis’ orbit as SVP Worldwide Marketing at Arista and (after BMG ousted Davis) EVP of Worldwide Marketing at Clive’s J. The latter label was folded into RCA Music Group under Davis in 2002, and Corson remained a key player over the course of several subsequent renovations, moving up to RCA COO under Doug Morris. He and Edge received the UJA’s Visionary Award in 2016, at which time they learned a great deal of Yiddish.

Now one of the most effective execs in the biz begins his next chapter.